i.
THE CHINA CONSORTIUM
CENTRAL AGENCY.
470
9, GRACECHURCH STREET,
LONDON, E.C.3.
April 4, 1924.
202
My dear Masterton-Smith,
CANTON-KOWLOON RAILWAY.
I enclose a copy of a letter from Mr Boothby, the Chief-
Engineer of this line, giving a general account of the
unhappy conditions under which the Railway is endeavouring
to keep in operation. The letter is somewhat belated owing
to its having followed me to Brazil, but, from a telegram from
Peking received yesterday, a copy of which I also enclose, it
appears that there has been no appreciable change.
We advanced the amount necessary to pay the Loan coupon
due last December, and we have gone so far as to guarantee their salaries to the British Staff, but beyond this I do
not think it would be prudent to go. Another coupon will be
payable on June 1, and, as the income from the line has
virtually fallen to nil, the outlook is very far from
satisfactory.
I can quite realize Hongkong's reluctance to take any
extreme measure, but it certainly seems a pity that the line
should be utterly wrecked for lack of some small reinforcement
of the present Railway Police, which is possibly all that is
required to allow Boothby to keep going.
Yours sincerely,
Sir James Masterton-Smith, K.C.B.,
Colonial Office,
Downing Street. S.W.1.